Bhagat Singh was born to Kishan Singh
and Vidya Vati at Banga in the Lyallpur district of the West Punjab in 1907
(exact date of birth is not known).

Kishan Singh was the eldest of the three
sons of Arjan Singh and Jai Kaur, the two others being Ajit Singh and Swaran
Singh . The former had been deported to Mandalay along with Lala Lajpat Rai
under the infamous Regulation III of 1818 on the charge of seditious activities
caused by the iniquitous Colonisation Bill of 1908.

Bhagat
Singh ( 27/28 September 1907 – 23
March 1931) was
an Indian socialist considered to be one of the most influential
revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He is often
referred to as "Shaheed Bhagat Singh", the word "Shaheed"
meaning "martyr" in a number of South Asian and Middle Eastern
languages. Born into a Sikh family which had earlier been involved in
revolutionary activities against the British Raj,
as a teenager Singh studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted
to anarchist and Marxist ideologies.
He became involved in numerous revolutionary organisations, and quickly rose
through the ranks of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA)
to become one of its main leaders, eventually changing its name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican
Association (HSRA) in 1928.

Seeking
revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat
Rai at the hands of the police, Singh was involved in the
murder of British police officer John Saunders. He eluded efforts by the police
to capture him. Soon after, together with Batukeshwar
Dutt, he and an accomplice threw two bombs and leaflets inside the Central Legislative Assembly. The two men
were arrested, as they had planned to be. Held on this charge, he gained
widespread national support when he underwent a 116-day fast in jail, demanding
equal rights for British and Indian political prisoners. During this time,
sufficient evidence was brought against him for a conviction in the Saunders
case, after trial by a Special Tribunal and appeal at the Privy Council in England. He was convicted
and subsequently hanged for his participation in the murder, aged 23. His
legacy prompted youth in India to begin fighting for Indian independence and he
continues to be a youth idol in modern India, as well as the inspiration for
several films. He is commemorated with a large bronze statue in theParliament of India, as well as a range of
other memorials.

March 23 is the death anniversary of one of the most heroic
figures of the Indian freedom movement. Few people remembered it, though.
Forget the rest of India, even the children of the village where he was born,
do not know anything about him.

And to think that the young man in question, Bhagat Singh, gave up his life for
the ideal of a free and better India! Today, over 50 years after Independence,
the people of his village still do not have access to drinking water and a tap,
writes The Indian Express newspaper.

Bhagat Singh was born on September 27, 1907, in Khatkar Kalan, Punjab, in
British India. His grandfather Arjan Singh, father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit
Singh, were all active in the freedom struggle.

While studying at the local D.A.V. School in Lahore, in 1916, young Bhagat
Singh came into contact with some well-known political leaders like Lala Lajpat
Rai and Ras Bihari Bose.

In response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for non-cooperation against British rule
in 1921, Bhagat Singh left his school and joined the National College newly
opened at Lahore. At this college, which was a centre of revolutionary
activities, he came into contact with revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan,
Sukhdev and others. He became a member of the Hindustan Republican Association
formed by the revolutionaries of Uttar Pradesh and was initiated into their
firebrand activities.

The revolutionaries were branded as terrorists by the British government. They
believed that given the unjust and oppressive nature of British rule, it was
legitimate on their part to use violence as a weapon to overthrow the
foreigners. So, they used bombs and guns against Britishers and robbed
establishments belonging to the British or their sympathisers.

Their ideas differed from the Gandhian idea of a freedom movement based on
non-violence or ahimsa. Gandhi's ideas went on to become more prominent as the
Indian freedom movement progressed.

But it is not merely as a bold militant-type figure that Bhagat Singh is
remembered today. He was also a thinker who was steeped in the best traditions
of socialistic thought, the theory that advocated collective or state ownership
of the means of production - land, labour and capital. This is borne out in the
numerous letters, pamphlets and articles that he wrote in the course of a short
but turbulent life.
In a letter to an Indian publication, The Tribune of December 24, 1929, Bhagat
Singh explained beautifully the meaning he and fellow socialists tried to
convey by the phrase, Long Live Revolution. He wrote that by revolution, they
did not so much mean violence, as "the spirit, the longing for a change
for the better." Since people generally get accustomed to the established
order of things and begin to tremble at the very idea of a change, they needed
to be roused from their lethargy and the revolutionary spirit had to be
instilled in them.

A brutal attack by the police on veteran freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai at an
anti-British procession caused his death on November 17 1928, in Lahore.

Bhagat Singh determined to avenge Lajpat Rai's death by shooting the British
official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. He shot
down Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott.

Then he made a dramatic escape from Lahore to Calcutta and from there to Agra,
where he established a bomb factory.

The British government responded to the act by imposing severe measures like
the Trades Disputes Bill. It was to protest against the passing of the Bill
that he threw bombs in the Central Assembly Hall while the Assembly was in
session. The bombs did not hurt anyone, but the noise they made was loud enough
to wake up an enslaved nation from a long sleep.

After throwing the bombs, Bhagat Singh and his friend deliberately courted
arrest by refusing to run away from the scene. During his trial, Bhagat Singh
refused to employ any defence counsel.

In jail, he went on hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment of
fellow-political prisoners by jail authorities. Along with fellow comrades,
Sukh Dev and Raj Guru, he was awarded the death sentence for his terroristic
activities by a special tribunal on October 7, 1930.

Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of
India, Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged in the early hours of March
23, 1931. Their bodies were cremated on the bank of the Sutlej in Ferozepur.
Bhagat Singh was just 23 at that time. Old timers say that in many places, not
a single hearth fire burned that day.

The last paragraph of the leaflet that he distributed (and wrote) in the
Assembly Hall said: "We are sorry that we who attach such great sanctity
to human life, we who dream of a very glorious future when man will be enjoying
perfect peace and full liberty, have been forced to shed human blood. But
sacrifice of individuals at the altar of the revolution will bring freedom to
all, rendering exploitation of man by man impossible. Inquilaab Zindaabad (Long
live the revolution)."

There was a time when the very mention of the name of the young revolutionary
stirred the passions of most Indians. Today, the name evokes little emotion.

The method of remembering him, too, has become mechanical. The day Bhagat Singh
was hanged is observed as Martyr's Day, when the chief minister of Punjab makes
a trip for a memorial function in Bhagat Singh's memory. Needless to say, the
politicians have used this occasion more for their ends.

And as for the children of the village, the high point for them is seeing the
helicopter in which the chief minister travels.

Bhagat Singh continues to be martyred by the very people of the country whose
freedom he fought for. And that is the biggest irony of all.